Given the recent absence of actual PaperEpic based news, I have decided to fill some of these gaps with musings on our mutually favorite subject: Movies and Movie-making in general. This isn't so much a section in which we review films we've seen, but more an opportunity for us to muse on things that we think, or have discussed in the past. My personal opinion does not reflect that of the PaperEpic team, and any of my blogs may be met with a ruthless and articulate rebuttal from the other and vice versa.
The topic I have decided to muse on today, is the subject of the Transformers sequels, given the third films current release and inevitable success. So without further ado, here are my thoughts.
Transformers 2 is better than Transformers 3... Sorta.
Transformers was a well received for what it was, a balls-out popcorn action flick of the highest order, boasting some of the best special effects to date, and a surprisingly self-aware good humor to it. Its inevitable sequel Transformers 2 is considered one of cinema's most horrendous pieces of trash, and understandably so. Between the wholly inappropriate racist robots Skids and Mudflap, the awkwardly flat jokes, and some tonally obscure emotional beats, its completely reasonable to be upset. This is what I heard of the film, never actually getting around to watch it during its release, and attempting only once to watch it on DVD before giving up 20 minutes in. Its at times an incomprehensible assault on the senses, the plot is over complicated and the performances are largely bad, but all with good reason:
The writers strike, in which the WGA and the AMPTP battled for dominion over the galaxy or something, left many active film productions without writers. Tranny's 2 was one such production; A 200 million dollar film with an unfinished script and no hope of getting any writers to come in (and work some punch up) and less than 2 years to finish it in. Michael Bay had to knuckle down and do the job ahead of him. Admirable, and surely an extraordinary feat given what was stacked against him, and all things considered, he did finish the damn movie on time and it certainly had all the necessary visual flair expected of it.
Tranformers 3 had none of these set backs, but just as many problems.
Granted, I had a great time during Transmorphers 3, its utterly insane visually, the cheesy underscore of acoustic soft rock and locations with titles like 'Illegal Nuclear Power Plant- Middle East' gave me no end of pleasure. But with plenty of time and access to all the writers in the world, they crafted the first two acts in such a way that the exposition was fired at you at such a blistering pace, you had no hope of being able to hold on to the plot, or any of the characters role or reason for being anywhere at any point. It was a mess of incomprehensible exposition, weird characters behaving weirdly, and action sequences without any clear purpose or goal attempted to be achieved.
They're both terrible movies really. But you know what, Atleast I understood what the heck was going on in 2.
That said, Racist robots and the distinct lack of 'Fun' means Transformers 3 is better to watch.
All in all, it like deciding to eat Dog crap or Cat crap. They're both offensive to the senses, but should ultimately be considered equally unpleasant. Anyone who claims otherwise, or claims that either is better than the first must love either dog or cat crap.
But even MORE all in all, its fuckin' transformers. Who gives a shit about any of it?
Oliver Fenton.
***********************
Coming Soon from Ben Aston: Why Kate Bosworth is genuinely the most talented actress in the world...
